Backcross processes automation

Backcross processes in the breeding software

Backcross is at the heart of most breeding departments. This hybridization method enables for example to add a gene of interest into an elite line or to produce and maintain sterility into a CMS process.

The goal of backcrossing is to obtain a line as identical as possible to the recurrent parent with the addition of the gene of interest that has been added through breeding.

The breeding software helps manage efficiently this long and repetitive process, mainly on three points :

• Effective storage of materials

• Automation of repetitive tasks 

• Assistance in screening management

Effective storage and handy query of backcross material

It is not an easy task to find quickly the best elite lines for your backcrosses, or to find over generation of breeding programs the backcrosses that you have already done.

That’s why this is really important to have a breeding software, to organize and store efficiently your data and facilitate the work of your breeders.

More information and live demonstration in the replay video of the webinar.

Find quickly a backcross material(Traits, etc.) thanks to quick filters in the breeding software

Track backcross material genealogy over years (seed origins, etc.) thanks to a dynamic genealogy graph

Automation of repetitive tasks during Backcrosses

Backcross involves a long and repetitive process. Let's study 2 examples of backcross process automation, allowing breeders to save some time and limit potential errors.

• Sometimes when you have progenies from different backcrosses experiments, it is not easy to remember and fullfil the good recurrent. That’s why we can automatize this process and limit errors of management.
• Besides, when breeders finish their backcrosses and obtain new progenies, they have new material to codify. Like the fullfilment of recurrent, the codification can also be automated.

More information and live demonstration in the replay video of the webinar.

The research software automatically finds the recurrents of the selected progenies to backcross again.

When preparing material for the next backcross, the software automatically proposes recurrents names according to the crosses of the progenies.

Assistance in screening management

At the end of the backcross process, breeders need to make some screenings on progenies. Let’s see how digital tools can help them handle their conventional screening or marker assisted screening.

Backcross screening assistance in conventional breeding

In this example we are focusing on rust resistance. We want to keep all the progenies of the previous backcross that show enough resistance.

First of all, the data collection software RnDExp® Mobile to score notations in the field. Then we'll synchronize the scorings with the central database to analyze the results. Eventually we select the materials that show enough resistance in order to prepare the next backcrosses.

Backcross screening assistance in marker-assisted breeding

Marker-assisted breeding enables to compile phenotypical and genotypical information for breeding decision making:

After selecting one or several trials in the top-left window, the corresponding materials are displayed on the top-right window. Some materials have been chosen to be analyzed in the lab in order to check if these progenies are resistant or not. In this example we focus on rust resistance.

After the lab has analyzed the samples and imput it in the breeding software, results can be displayed on the bottom-left window. We can see in the column "Results" that one material only, called "Reding", had the resistance gene, marked as "R". On the right, an histogram shows the repartition of sensible and resistant materials.

Why use a breeding software such as RnDExp® to handle the backcross processes ?

• The flexibility of the software enables breeders to manage the specificities of their various species, material and objectives in a unique system.
• As a collaborative tool, it enables the research team to work in synergy, enhancing communication between the various teams: Breeding, field evaluation, laboratory, management
• RnDExperience® can drive breeders all along the backcrossing process, from the starting cross to decision-making, and provide assistance with automated tasks and graphical breeding tools

This page presents an overview of a presentation by Rudy Mezino, agronomy and business engineer at Doriane, on January 23rd 2018 during the webinar "How to manage efficiently your backcrosses". Click here and fill the form "WATCH REPLAY" to watch the full video with more details and live demonstration.